The North American Handbuilt Bicycle Show has proven to be a showcase for bicycles and ideas that find their way onto mass-market bikes, and into the mainstream. “Touring bicycles” have followed a hard line for decades, demanding 700c wheels, drop handlebars, and attachment points for fenders, racks, and water bottles. Recently, the traditional touring bike is challenged by modern concepts born on the dirt tracks of the Great Divide Route, above treeline on the Colorado Trail, and on the 1100mi Alaskan Iditarod Trail. Riding off-pavement promises low traffic volumes, excellent camping, and extraordinary scenery. To access remote settings via unpaved routes, several deviations from the concept of a traditional touring bike can help.

This elegant example of a traditional 700c touring bike by Breadwinner Cycles features front and rear racks, drop bars, fenders, lighting, three chainrings, and a pump peg. Breadwinner Cycles is a new brand from framebuilding veterans Ira Ryan and Tony Pereira.

This light touring model from Harvey Cycle Works features larger volume 650b tires. The rim is smaller in diameter than the bike above, but the frame allows a larger tire for a cushioned ride on rough surfaces. This bike hides a lot of modern features, including cable-actuated hydraulic disc brakes mated to Campy 11-speed levers.

The Littleford Expedition tourer makes use of 26” wheels as the foundation for a rugged world-tourer. 26” wheels are the most common wheel/tire size around the globe– the smaller wheel is inherently stronger, and the larger tires cushion the ride and provide traction when off the beaten path. Rugged racks carry a full load of luggage.

Another popular concept in off-pavement riding is the 29” wheel. While the rim dimension is actually the same as the 700c wheels on your road or touring bike, with a voluminous tire the outside dimension of the wheel is nearly 29”. Larger wheels improve the capacity of the bike to roll over obstacles and maintain momentum. This can be helpful on rough, washboarded roads such as the Great Divide Route. This bike built by Hunter Cycles pays homage to vintage mountain bikes from the 80’s, with modern considerations, including disc brakes and big wheels. More on the Super Scrambler on this previous post.

Moots Cycles displayed this titanium drop-bar 29er, designed to race the Tour Divide (GDMBR) and the CTR (Colorado Trail). While this design retains drop bars common on road touring bikes (and aero bars!), it is otherwise outfitted like a mountain bike with knobby tires. A framebag and other bikepacking equipment will round out the luggage system on this bike, which includes several mounting points on the fork for water bottle cages or the Salsa Anything Cage, which is a simple harness system for small bundles of gear. Pictured on the fork are two new Manything Cages from King Cage, constructed of tubular stainless steel to overcome some of the failure risk of the aluminum Salsa cages.

Pushing the concept even further, this custom creation from English Cycles loses the drop bars in favor of a multi-position upright bar. Aero bars will still be useful on long stretches of smooth dirt and pavement, as this bike is planning to race the Tour Divide as well. The full luggage capacity is shown, including two standard water bottle cages on each fork leg. The fork is also built to swallow a fat tire (26×4.0”) in the off-season.

Not into ultralight racing concepts? This Moots bike is designed as a rugged trail-building machine. With integrated racks front and rear, it is loaded with a chinsaw and a multi-function shovel/axe, as well as a enough beer for a small crew. Built around the 29×3.0” tire introduced on the Surly Krampus, this bike has the capacity to reach remote places. Imagine losing the chainsaw and strapping a tent and a sleeping bag to the back.

In a similar vein, this Black Sheep fatbike features integrated racks front and rear on a slightly elongated wheelbase. In the wake of longtail cargo bikes, medium length cargo bikes have become a popular solution for handling less than epic loads. 26X4.0” tires will go anywhere you can imagine “touring”. Start dreaming!

The king of all touring bikes at NAHBS this year is this longtail fatbike from Hunter Cycles, built for Scott Felter of Porcelain Rocket. Rick has been building for years, and Scott sews custom bags– the combination of their expertise creates an integrated touring bike for one of the most remote tracks in the world. This summer Scott plans to ride the Canning Stock Route in Australia, which is over 1000mi of sandy desert doubletrack with no resupply points, and a limited number of water sources. Thus, this bike is designed to carry a month of food, several days of water, and several pounds of camping equipment. In addition to the framebag, Scott has made custom panniers for the rear rack– each double the size of a large Ortlieb bag– and a front handlebar roll to carry camping equipment. On 82mm rims and 4.8” tires, this bike is primed for expeditions on dirt, sand, or snow. More on this epic touring bike on this previous post.

Andy Peirce waves the 29 inch flag proudly, riding single and tandem models around southern Colorado’s rugged dirt roads and trails. Born out of a converted potato barn in the San Luis Valley near Del Norte, CO, his bikes are trail tested and approved by some of the most discerning riders around. Here, butted, curved and ovalized tubes– sometimes all at once– build upon the experience that Andy and his wife Tammy have on their previous 29″ mountain tandem. They were happily riding on voluminous 29×2.4″ Maxxis Ardent tires and Velocity P35 rims, until the 29×3.0″ Surly Knard tire was released. At that moment, Andy began work on a new bike. This flagship tandem model on display at NAHBS is the result. For dirt road adventures, the bike wears a suspension-corrected steel truss fork. For more rugged singletrack treks, a suspension fork will take its place. Curved tubes abound. Note: custom titanium handlebars and stems, Rohloff Speedhub, and Black Cat swinging dropouts, all on an oversized 29″ wheelset. This is a full-featured mountain tandem. Nothing like this is available off-the-shelf.

Black Sheep bikes deserve to be shipped with blue ribbons. Founder James Bleakely produces the most innovative titanium bikes in the country, showcasing challenging new designs for fat tires and tandems, or both. This tandem features a titanium truss fork, custom titanium handlebar stem combinations, and a curvaceous frame. A lightweight parts kit and I9 wheels complete this dirt road bomber. This bike is proof that NAHBS is a showcase for real designs. I visited Black Sheep last summer and experienced tubeless fatbike tires for the first time. Thanks for the inspiration James!

Moots makes nice titanium bikes in Steamboat Springs, CO, and you already knew that. Considering the association with founder Kent Erickson, their passion for innovative titanium designs is no surprise. This fully-equipped IMBA trail bike is ready to cut new singletrack, camp out for a few nights, and carry enough beer and whiskey for the whole crew. With 29×3.0″ tires, this bike is ready for a full week of work, singletrack rides, and a weekend of fun. The custom framebag is crafted by Scott Felter of Porcelain Rocket, and integrated titanium racks allow potentially massive cargo loads. The orange rim tape complements the Stihl chainsaw. The bell doubles as a shot glass, made by King Cage in Durango, CO. The handlebar is absurdly wide. The chainsaw guard is custom-made of titanium. Details are important.

Engin Cycles of Philadelphia, PA displayed a third mountain tandem featuring the new Surly Knard 29×3.0″ tire. Additionally, this bike features new product from Paragon Machine Works, including a new multi-purpose dropout system, a tapered steerer tube, and a prototype chainstay yoke designed to clear the new 3.0″ tire. This is a rugged travel touring tandem with S&S couples and a stout wheelset with cutout Kris Holm rims. The bike utilizes a slight offset in the rear to accomplish a full triple drivetrain with a 3.0″ tire and a 73mm bottom bracket.

This is either half-fat or double-fat. This frame from Funk Cycles wears a “normal” 29×3.0″ front wheel and a 3.8″ Surly Larry tire on a 47mm Schlick Northpaw rim in the rear. The outside diameter of both wheels is similar, but the rear wheel allows maximal traction and flotation at low pressure.

It’s hard to call a longtail fatbike ‘understated’, especially with the accoutrements of stark white framebags, but many attendees at NAHBS simple walked past thinking this was another funky show bike to explore the limits of tire size, wheelbase and custom luggage. In fact, this bike is an exercise in real world problem solving. Scott Felter, best known by his super-stitching Porcelain Rocket alter-ego, will embark upon an epic cross-continental desert adventure this summer. Joined by Tom Walwyn, they intend to ride Australia’s Canning Stock Route, a 1150mi abandoned stock route through the arid outback, made possible by several remnant wells along the historic cattle route. The route is classically epic, first traversed by 4WD motor vehicle in 1968; in 2005, Jakub Postrzygacz was the first to travel the route by bicycle, self-supported on his first-generation purple Surly Pugsley with custom fat-tire Extrawheel trailer. In adventure cycling circles, Jacob’s crossing was the equivalent of a first-ascent. One other rider has completed the route since, also with a trailer. Tom Walwyn has recently received a custom Twenty2 titanium fatbike, and is expecting a custom trailer. Between Rick Hunter‘s metal wizardry, and his own stitching solutions, Scott plans to ride the route without a trailer, carrying food for the month-long crossing and water for several days at a time, all on two wheels.

Notable features include a custom longtail assembly with a stout removable rear rack; custom chainstay yoke and fork crown to accommodate a maximum 100mm rim and 4.8″ tire (shown with 82mm Rolling Darryl and 4.7″ Big Fat Larry tires); and custom framebags installed directly to the frame via threaded braze-ons and standard M5 bolts. Rick has detailed the frame with stunning curves at the back end, and a squared-off bluntness at the front, a juxtaposition not unlike his own style. The bike manages an immense luggage capacity by way of Scott’s integrated systems, including two capacious panniers– each more than double the size of the standard Ortlieb Backroller– and several frambags which make the most of underutilized space within the frame. A front rack may be added for additional capacity. Arkel attachments were used to complete the panniers.

A few words from Scott Felter:

The idea was to have space for about 150L of capacity on the bike. So the rear panniers are about 40L each, and there will be 20L panniers on the front + the framebags and the rack-top bag (whatever that ends up looking like). The rear panniers will likely be full of food. The framebags and front panniers will be kit storage. There are bladder sleeves in the sides of the rear panniers, in order to keep the weight close to the rack and low-ish. There is a 4-day stretch on the route without access to water. So, at 10L a day, that’s 40L of water to carry.

The challenges are basically the terrain, which is sandy. So, sometimes hardpacked, but more than likely soft in most places. Hence the fatbike. There are no resupply spots on route, so we will mostly be eating dehydrated food. There are, if I’m not mistaken, 50-ish wells along the route, so that is the water source. Some of the wells are no longer flowing, and some have been tainted by animals falling into them and dying.

We are going in winter, so the temps will be in the mid-80’s during the day and about freezing at night. We are planning to share a tent, and only carry a tarp in case of precipitation, which is unlikely. For me, the landscape is a bit daunting, mentally. While I’ve lived in the desert of NM, this is a whole different sort of world. Like being on Mars. I’m looking forward to it, for sure.

A $150 plane ticket from Albuquerque to Denver is a relative bargain, considering that I purchased it last minute and that it allowed me to keep my schedule at work and to be in Denver in the morning for NAHBS. Still, I was determined to make the most of the expense and a little reconnaissance from the air is always inspiring. Incidentally, I was almost always within sight of something I recognized on the ground and something I have ridden by bike, including some local routes in the Jemez Mountains, the Great Divide Route, and the Colorado Trail.

This blank canvas is the southern end of the snow-covered San Luis Valley. This fall, Lael and I rode some pavement south from Del Norte, CO to meet Joe and Cass in Santa Fe. We rode this section in the dark, and camped in a super secret spot in Antonito, CO.

And a bit further north, Monte Vista, CO, I believe.

Here, the Rio Grande cuts across the San Luis Valley above 7000ft between Del Norte and Alamosa. It is easy to see here why the river runs dry along the Mexican border– irrigation.

To the right, the northern peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Range, south of Salida, CO. Cottonwood Peak is sunlit at the bottom, and featured at the top of the page.

Descending towards Denver and over the Front Range, this is the start of the Colorado Trail at Waterton Canyon.

Dirt, road, bikes. Rock ‘n Road. Dirt roads are much the way they sound– they are roads composed of local sediments, sometimes groomed and graded and maintained, sometimes abandoned and rugged. But the variety of dirt roads is greater than the variety of paved routes, which partly explains the great variety of bikes in use for these kinds of rides. Still, the emergent genre of dirt road riding is finally landing on some common themes– not quite standards– but commonalities in tire size and tread, handlebar concepts, and in some cases, luggage. Of course, riding on unpaved roads is ancient as far as bicycles are concerned. But today, greater accommodation of comfort and efficiency on unpaved surfaces is afforded through new equipment. Specifically, a vast array of lightweight large-volume 700c/29″ tires are perfectly tuned for dirt, road, riding.

Some dirt road rides are self-supported races over many thousand miles. Others are actually half on pavement to connect the dots of featured dirt segments, and still others are about the pursuit of adventure and reaching remote destinations by the only means available– a dirt road. We are not talking about mountain biking, which is an exclusive search for dirt trails and tracks and rough terrain. We are not talking about a brief segment of unpaved rail-trail– yes, I know you can ride it on your road bike. We are talking about road riding, potentially at a brisk pace, on dirt roads. Dirt, road, riding. Common themes include medium to large volume 700c tires, powerful brakes, a range of gears; drop bars, aero bars or multi-posiiton handlebars; and lightweight frames, in reference to true mountain bikes or touring bikes. The following are a sample of modern concepts from NAHBS:

26×1.95″ Specialized Ground Control tires, WTB Roller Cam brakes, and WTB Dirt Drop bars. One of only two 26″ wheeled bikes in this collection, back when large-volume 700c tires were unavailable. Several years earlier, a few Marin builders had gotten their hands on some 700x47mm Nokian Hakkepelita tires for use off-pavement, although supply issues forced the concept out of existence. A year after this Potts frame was built, Bruce Gordon released his 43mm Rock ‘n Road tire. This bike would have been considered a true mountain bike at the time, but has since informed the kinds of bikes that are popularly ridden on dirt roads, such as the Salsa Fargo. Marin County is home to many historic fire roads.

Kenda Happy Medium tire, Paul Racer brakes, dynamo lighting and mini-rack. This is the narrowest tire of the bunch, but represents what many people consider to be an appropriate tire for unpaved surfaces. This size is fine for graded, hardpacked surfaces without a load.

26″ Schwalbe Marathon Supreme tires, Paul Touring cantilever brakes, dynamo lighting, and expedition-grade racks. In this instance, 26″ wheels are selected for durability and the ability to source wheels parts all over the globe.

A brief history and tribute

Credit to Bruce Gordon for pushing the first large volume 700c tire through to the American market, and building a bike to fit it. And to the 700x45mm Panaracer Fire Cross XC. Credit to mountain bikes and all-terrain bikes and down-home dirt roads everywhere, and the people who ride them. Credit to the Surly LHT which is a “real touring bike”, but fits bigger tires and is a gateway bike to dirt roads for many; and the Cross-Check, the monstercross bike of the people; and the Salsa Fargo, which has reintroduced the idea of knobby tires and drop bars to a lot of people. Surely, credit is also due elsewhere: Grant Peterson and Rivendell (and the drop-bar Bridgestone MB-1), cross bikes, Jan Heine and ultra-plush 650b tires, Charlie Cunningham and the WTB drop bar, Wes Williams, Chris Skogen, Mike Varley and the Black Mountain Cycles Cross frame; Divide racers, gravel grinders, Hemistour riders, the BLM, and the most prolific builder of dirt roads in the world, the United States Forest Service.

Bruce Gordon’s influence is immeasurable. If you ask Bruce, he started it all. Note: the BG Rock ‘n Road tire was actually designed by Joe Murray, and borrowed heavily from the Nokian Hakkapelita.

Does your bike happily ride on dirt roads? rough dirt roads?

The United States National Forest Road System consists of more than 380,000 miles of roads. The types of roads range from permanent, double-lane, paved highways to single-lane, low-standard roads intended only for use by high-clearance vehicles, such as pickup trucks. At this time, a significant portion of this system is closed or use-restricted to protect resources. (USFS website)

Further, 1.3 million miles, or more than one-third of all road miles in the U.S. are still unpaved gravel or dirt roads. (ARTBA website)

Standing at a distance of about six feet, I placidly gaze at the features of this bike, as in a museum. Steve Potts approaches, now two of us standing shoulder to shoulder in appreciation. Nothing to say in particular, although I stumble through a few words about the paint and drop bars and how this is probably my favorite bike at the show– “if I could take one bike home with me, this would be it”. He kindly nods. Pausing for a final moment to look, he walks away. The bike receives the Steve Potts seal of approval, and that’s saying a lot.

Vintage WTB Dirt Drop bars, Dura-Ace levers and Shimano XT shifters. The bars are finished with a layer of Grab-On foam in the drops, wrapped in cotton tape. This is still a really good way to mount shifters.

Custom 6-speed cassette on a Chris King singlespeed hub, yielding a dishless rear wheel and a wide range of gears.

Rick crafts beautiful and functional fork crowns and chainstay yokes.

The build is completed with a NOS Avocet Touring saddle and Deore XT seatpost.

Scott Felter says “Rick Hunter is a genius”. I couldn’t agree more. His bikes are highly functional, featuring a utilitarian aesthetic that is in itself, artistic. He finds creative solutions to the specific needs of his customers, manufacturing custom racks, fork crowns and chainstay joinery. While this bike is styled like an old Cunningham drop-bar mountain bike, painted like a Ritchey, it is designed and specced like a bike that is actually meant to ride.

The Cannodale Hooligan continues to prove itself as a very versatile bike. The afternoon before flying to Denver, I raced around town on the little-wheeled bike in search of a suitable bag to pack it in. In the end, I decided that a pair of durable black plastic trash bags would be best, with the aid of a roll of duct tape. Total cost: about $6.

Twenty five miles pavement riding, fast– check

Pack my bags with camera socks and a sleeping bag the night before, around midnight.

I awoke at 3:30AM to ride to the airport by 4:30, to check the bike by 5:00 to board the plane by 5:30 to arrive in Denver by 7:30.

Cross-town ride in the dark to the ABQ International Sunport. Pack the bike in about 15-20 minutes– check

At the last moment I noticed my multi-tool in my pocket, which would be confiscated at security. I tore open a hole in the plastic bag, packed the tool away, and taped the hole closed. I did not realize that the bag was not fully sealed elsewhere, as I had used two bags in opposite directions. I arrived in Denver without a tool to re-assemble the bike. After some digging around with various airlines, I finally found 4 and 5 mm hex wrenches and an adjustable crescent wrench. Roll out. RTD bus to downtown Denver, $11. Bike the last mile or two to NAHBS in the sun.

Ride to NAHBS, with the help of a bus and an airplane– check.

What’s in the bag? A kinetic sculpture. Mobility device. Materials for a trade show. A new wheelchair for my mom, aunt, great uncle…most definitely not a bike.

I can’t not go. I’ve got two days off work and it’s really not that far away and it sounds really exciting. Thus, I’m up to an alarm at 3:30AM, on a flight that is cheap, but about $150 more than I spend on anything else. I’ll be in Denver this morning as the sun rises for NAHBS; this evening, I hope to attend this smaller second show of Bruce Gordons and Rene Herse bikes, among others; and hopefully,I’ll find something fun this evening. Looking forward to seeing a lot of people, and a lot of great bikes.

If you are in Denver this weekend, look for me at any of these events. I won’t be connected via internet much at all, so you’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way (make a sign, like a limo driver at the airport).

Oh yes, and I’m riding the Cannondale Hooligan to the airport, stuffing it into a thick black plastic trash bag with some duct tape, and riding around Denver this weekend.